Oiling system for internal-combustion engines



June 28 1927.

A. rAuB OILI'NG SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed D90. 12, 1923 u u I5 [lll/lll.

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OILING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COIBUSTION ENGINES Filed Dec. 12. 1923 y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @75 vwenoz @fr @wf @2513 @Miou/tw) qu fr Patented June 28', 1927.

e UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. l

ALEX TAUB, OF DETROIT, MCHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION,

GF DETROTT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

OTLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed December 1.2, 1923. Serial No. 680,177.

,under pressure from a suitable oil forcing pump; and particularly to systems of the class above mentioned and wherein the oil.

thus supplied is forced through passages extending along a valve operating shaft and thev crank shaft of the engine, and is led oft' from the passage in said crank shaft through Y suitable ports and to vseveral crank pin bearingsto be oiled.

1n systems of the kind above mentioned it has often happened that, because of the structural features of the syst-em as a whole, the pressures at theY several bearings to be oiled varies considerably, with the result that different quantities of oil are supplied to the bearings, some receiving more oil than is necessary, and others less or even none at all; and the object of my invention illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described and explained is to provide a system of the forced feed typein question wherein the oil will be distributed more uniformly, as regards quantities, and at more nearly equal pressures to and atl the several bearings to be lubricated, than in prior lubricating systems of the type herein referred to.

The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification; althoughmyA invention may be embodied in various other forms or which upon analysis will be found to be modifications of the particular form thereof illustrated, all intended to be covered by the patent to be secured therefor; so long as such other forms come within the scope of the claims whichv conclude this specification and wherein the dise tinguishing features of my invention are particularly enumerated.

In the drawings accompanying` and forming a part of this specification, and wherein like reference numerals designatethe same parts and features in the several views:

Figure 1 is a view showing my invention as applied to a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine, the view being for the most part in side elevation and so much only of the engine as is necessary to anunderstanding of my invention being illustrated.

Figure 2 is a view showing a section upon `a vertical transverse plane indicated by the line 2, 2, Figure 1, with parts broken away in order-'to better show the relationship of my invention to the engine.

Figure 3 is a view showing the engine, equipped with my invention in elevation,

and as seen from a position to the right ofV Figure 1. l l

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view showing a section upon vertical longitudinally eX- tending planes indicated, approximately, by the broken line 4, 4, Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view like unto Figure 3, but

showing my invention modified as regards Y certain features thereof, as will hereinafter appear. Y

Figure 6 is a View similar to Figure A4, but showing a section upon planes indicated,- approximately, by the broken line 6,6F igure 5. Y

Figure 7 is a detailsectional view taken upon a vertical transverse plane indicated by the line 7, 7, Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 designates, conventionally, a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine block having, in this particular case, six cylinders arranged side by side within which rpistons not shown operate, and whereby a six throw crank shaft is driven through piston rods 11, as is usual in internal combustion .engines employed to drive motor driven vehicles. p

The lower end of the cylinder block is enlarged to provide a crank case, and is provided with transversely eXt-ending bearing supporting members 12, 14 adjacent the two ends th-ereof, and with a third transversely extending member 13 between said end members and centrally disposed relativ-e tothe length of the crankoase. These members ordinarily take the forni of webs which, in addition to providing supports for the bearings hereinafter referred to, serve to connect the sides of the crank Case together and to stiften the cylinder block structure as a whole.

4The bearing supporting members 12, 13

and 14 are provided with align-ed bearings 15; and the numeral 16 designates the valve operating or cam shaft of the engine, which shaft has a passage 17 Within and extending longitudinally thereof, as shown, the ports 18 leading from said passage to the periphery of the shaft at the bearings aforellt) said; and through which ports oil supplied to the passage extending along said valve operating shaft under pressure escapes to the bearings 15, thus lubricating the said bearings.

VIthe crank shaft of the engine is rotatable in bearings 19 supported also by the transversely extending bearing supporting members 12, 13 and 14, and is provided with a plurality of crank pins 20, six in the embodiment of my invention herein illustrated and described; although other numbers may obviously be used according to the number of cylinders in the engine block. The crank shaft is providedy with a. continuous passage 21 extending longitudinally thereof and i through the several crank cheeks, and along the several crank pins, and which passage is provided with ports 22 leading to the peripheral surface of the shaft at the main crank shaft bearings 19 and with ports 23 leading from said passage to the bearings between the crank pins 2O and the lower ends of the piston rods 11; from which it follows that oil supplied through the ports 22 and to the passage 21 under pressure, flows to and lubricates the several crank pin bearings of the engine.

Secured to the end of the crank case adj acent the bearing supporting member lll i's a dished cover plate 24 which encloses the usual two to one gears 25, 26 whereby in four stroke cycle engines the valve operating shaft is driven from the crank shaft of th engine. Securedrto this cover plate in the form of my invention illustratedin Figures 1 to 1l, and 7, is a pump casing casting 27 recessed to provide an interior chamber in which the intermeshing impellers or gears 28, 29 of an ordinary geared rotary pump operate. The inlet to the pump is designated by the reference numeral 30; and the impeller or gear 28 is secured directly upon the end of the valve operating shaft 16 and is driven thereby, and the discharge of oil from the pump is through a conduit 31 formed integrally with the pump casing27 and discharging into the passage 17 which extends along the valve operating shaft.

In view of the premises it follows that cil under pressure supplied to the passage 17 by the oil pump 'will flow along the same, and out therefrom through the several ports 18 and to the bearings 15 wherein the valve operating shaft is supported, thus lubricating the said bearings. The oil thenfflows in three separate streams from the bearingsl through passages32, 33 and 3d extending along the bearing supporting members 12, 13 and 1a and to the crank shaft bearings 19, thus lubricating said bearings by three sena rate and independent streams of` oilv all under the same pressure, as all lead from the passage 17 which extends along the valve operating shaft. In the form o'f my invention illustrated the ports 18 lead into annular channels or grooves in the valve open ating shaft 16 so that the supply of oil to the bearings 15 is continuous, and continuous also to the crank shaft bearings 19 as the passages 32, 33 and Sil always communicate with the channels into which the ports 18 lead. The ports 22, viowever, communicate with the passages 82, 38, Bel only once each rotation of the crank shaft, so that the supply of oil to the passage 21 and to the crank pins 2O is intermittent; although it will be appreciated that a continuous supply to the crank pins and piston rod bearings may be secured by providing grooves either in the bearings 19 or in the crank shaft, and with which the ports 22 and the passages 32, 33 and Bl communicate.

in some cases it is sufficient to supply oil to the .fal've'operating and crank shaft bearings in separate. streams derived from a hollow valve operating shaft as above explained; the crank pin bearings being then oiled by scoops upon the lower ends of the connecting rods as in splash oiling systems. lily invention i-n its more comprehensive form, however, and as hereinbefore pointed out, contemplates the use of a crank shaft having a continuous passa-ge extending along the saine, such as the passage 21 shown and above described. ln such cases the oil which is under pressure at the several main crank shaft bearings flows through the ports 22 and into the passage 21, and along and out from said passage through the ports 23, thus lubricating the several crank pins 2O and, in a further carrying forward of my invention, from the crank pins along the connecting rods and to the wrist pin bearings between the upper ends of said rods and pistons; it being obvious that the pressure within and along the passage 21 and at the several crank pin bearings is equalized and substantially uniform, because-of the three separate yconduits 32, S3 and i3d all coinmunicating with said passage, and in which conduits the oil is under the saine pressure because all of them communicate with 4the passage 1?' in the cam shaft 16.

A. branch passage y35 leads from the passage Sl and past a loaded valve 36,and to a pipe 3T the discharge end Vof which is above and adjacent the gears 25, 26 to thereby oil said gears. Obviously oil is discharged through thepipe 37 whenever the pressure in the )assage 17 and conduits 32, 33 and 34 rises a ove the pressure determined by the spring '381 which acts to close the valve 36 and, while the said spring obviously permits vthe valve in question to open when the speed of the engine reaches a predetermined rate and prevents a vfurther increase in pressure in the oiling system iat higher speeds, my invention does not necessarily include the use of a pressure limiting by-pass such asis lll formed by the passage 35 and the spring pressed valve 36 and is not limited to a system wherein a constant pressure is present in a part thereof, or in the system as a whole. If the by-pass is not used then obviously the pressure in the system is dependent, approximately, upon the speed of the engine, and, the parts being properly designed, will be sufficient to insure proper lubrication at the lowest speed at which the engine will ordinarily operate; while the volume of oil discharged from the pump, its concomitant pressure, and the quantity of oil supplied to each bearing will increase with the speed of the engine, thus securing more copious lubrication at high speeds, which is a feature of advantage in lubricating systems for internal combustion engines.

Figures 5 and 6 show a dierent form of oil pump than the form shown in the other figures although it operates precisely as in the preferred form hereinbefore described in that it forces oil into and along the hollow cam shaft of the engines and to the crank shaft bearings. In this form of my invention the end cover plate 38, which is in all essential particulars the equivalent of the cover plate 24, is provided with a recess at 39 so shaped as to provide a pump chamber for the oil pump made up of intermeshing gears 40, 4l; the first secured to the end of the cam shaft 16 and driven therefrom and the latter rotatable vupcn a stud 42 extending through an opening in a cover plate 43 which closes the pump chamber 89. The inlet conduit 44 leads from the oil pan 45 of the engine to the pump chamber, and the pump discharges through a passage 46 in the cover plate 43 and into and along the passage 17 in the valve operating shaft 16, the same as in the form of oil pump hereinbefore first (lescribed.

Having thus described and explained my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. In a lubricating system for internal combustion engines and in combination with a crank shaft supported in bearings disposed one adjacent each end thereof and in an intermediate bearing between said end bearings, said shaft having a plurality of crank pins, and a passage extending along the same and ports at each of said bearings through which oil may How therefromand into said passage, and having also other ports 'at said crank pins through which oil from said passage is supplied to said pins; a valve operating shaft supported in end and intermediate bearings, and having annular grooves at said bearings, and a passage extending longitudinally thereof and ports leading from said passage into said grooves and through which oil may flow from said passageto said valve operating shaft bearings; separate and independent` oil supply conduits leading one from each valve operating shaft bearing to a crank shaft bearing; and an oil supply pump comprising a rotatable member mounted directly upon one end of said valve operating shaft and arranged to discharge oil into and through the passage aforesaid extending along said shaft.

2. In a lubricating system for internal combustion engines and in combination with a crank shaft supported in bearings disposed one adjacent each end thereof and in an intermediate bearing between said end bearings; a valve operating shaft supported in end and intermediate bearings, and havling annular grooves at said bearings, and a passage extending longitudinally thereof and ports leading from said passage into said grooves and through which oil may flow from said passage to said valve operating shaft bearings; separate and independent oil supply conduits leading one from each valve operating shaftk bearing to a crank shaft bearing; and an oil supply pump comprising a rotatable member .mounted directly upon one end of said valve operating shaft and arranged to discharge oil into and through the passage aforesaid .extending along said valve operating shaft.

`3. In a lubricating system for internal combustion engines and in combination with a crank case having two transversely extending bearing supporting members located one n adjacent each end thereof, and a 4third transversely extending bearing supporting member disposed between said end bearing members; a valve operating shaft rotatable in bearings supported by said bearing supporting members, and having annular grooves at said bearings, and a passage extending longitudinally thereof, and ports leading from said passage into said grooves and through which oil flows from said passage tol said bearings; an oil pump having a rotatable oil forcing member secured directly to and driven by said valve operating shaft, and which pump is arranged to discharge into the passage aforesaid extending along said shaft; a crank shaft rotatable in bearings carriedy also by said transversely extending bearing supporting members; and means for providing a plurality of passages leading one-from each of ,the bearings for said valve opera-ting shaft to one of the bearings aforesaid Wherein said crank shaft is rotatable.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

ALEX TAUB. 

